NEW ORLEANS — Adam Silver was restless, Val Ackerman was pregnant and David Stern didn't like being ignored.

And that is how the NBA's fifth commissioner got his start.

Now Silver oversees a multibillion-dollar league after taking over for Stern on Feb. 1. But almost 25 years ago, he was feeling unfulfilled in his job as an attorney at a New York City law firm. So he wrote a letter to Stern, a former colleague of his father's.

Silver sought career guidance from the NBA commissioner and was granted a meeting. Instead of heeding Stern's advice to pursue a job outside of New York, Silver maintained the status quo until receiving a call from Stern demanding answers.

"He called me about two months (after their first meeting), and said, 'Whatever happened?'" says Silver, who confessed to Stern he didn't want to leave New York after growing up northern suburb of Rye. "So (Stern) said, 'You know, why didn't you tell me all that? I have another idea. Why don't you call my assistant and come back and see me again?'"

Stern's idea was for Silver to come to work for the NBA as his special assistant, filling the role left by Ackerman, who was about to go on maternity leave. Ackerman would eventually go on to be the WNBA's first president and the Big East Conference commissioner, and Silver made his way through the NBA hierarchy — from special assistant to chief of staff to senior vice president/COO and president/COO of NBA Entertainment to deputy commissioner (in 2006).

It's not an easy job following Stern, who was commissioner for 30 years and helped grow the league beyond imagination.

"Adam knows the best of what David did as commissioner, and he also has the ability to add his own strengths," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says. "I think he will do an amazing job."

Silver, 51, has an understated demeanor, but he's primed to attack his new job with all the ferocity of a LeBron James dunk. Tell him that it's impossible to have the kind of impact Stern had, growing annual revenues from $156 million to $5.6 billion, and he'll respectfully disagree and offer sound arguments to the contrary.

"I have a set of tools available to me that David couldn't even have imagined," Silver tells USA TODAY Sports. "The league that David Stern inherited had our Finals on tape delay, so I'm inheriting a league where games and Finals are televised in 215 countries, 50 languages. But beyond that, I'm inheriting a social media community of over a half a billion followers on a global basis. And what's rapidly changing in the world around us right now is the explosive ramping up of cell phone usage by consumers.

"And so I guess I see someone saying, 'Where's the opportunity?' But to me, the U.S. is less than 5% of the world's population. So when I look at markets like the billion people in Africa, the over billion people that live in India, the (1.3 billion) that live in China, just those markets alone where we're just barely scratching the surface, there is so much opportunity out there for us."

The room for growth, as Silver has made clear in all of his early stump speeches, is not just abroad.

"I'm also very focused on growing the game in the U.S.," he says. "I see enormous upside, both in consumption of new media; largely digital media — but just as importantly, for conventional television."

Silver even expects to go after the NFL's position as the country's most popular and profitable sports league.

"I look at the enormous gap between NFL ratings and NBA ratings and see enormous room for growth," he says.

He's also ready to address touchy topics, including:

• The minimum age of NBA players. Instead of the current rule that players must be at least 19-year-old, he'd like to raise it to 20. "It has been our sense for a long time that our draft would be more competitive if our teams had an opportunity to see these players play an additional year, whether it be in college or professionally in the Development League or overseas," he says.

• Building on recent parity, which was a key issue in collective bargaining three years ago. "While the CBA is far from perfect, we compromised in order to get it done, and we're seeing some very positive signs, and largely you're seeing much less of a correlation between market size and success," he says.

Team owners love Silver — and unanimously approved his promotion in October 2012 — in part because of the trust he built in spending eight years on Stern's hip. He also has a unique combination of intellect and humility, and players find him capable and approachable, with James, the Miami Heat star and four-time NBA MVP, recently saying he's among the many eager to collaborate with the new commissioner.

"He's a very easy guy for everyone to like," Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob says. "He's been there a long time, so he knows all the players very well. He's been in the trenches.

"I just think he's going to be very, very good. He's one of these people who can just get along with everybody. Time will tell, I guess. His legacy will be written over the years … but I think he has a chance to be really, really good."

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Silver also has the benefit of being steeped in the TV world.

While at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Silver worked on cases for Time Warner and HBO and became infatuated with the industry. His late father, Edward, had worked with Stern at the law firm Proskauer Rose in the 1970s, and the intent of Silver's initial inquiry in 1992 was to learn a few things from Stern about the cable TV industry.

Now Stern's challenges and his seemingly endless chances to improve the state of the league are Silver's. The new commissioner already has cited the forthcoming negotiations between the NBA and its digital and television media partners — ESPN, ABC and TNT — over their next rights deals as his top business priority. The current contract doesn't expire until after the 2015-16 season, but talks are expected to intensify in the near future. The work of raising of the NBA ceiling starts now.

"Having worked directly for David for 22 years, I've only begun to have the sense in the last week or so how easy David made it look," Silver admits. "In terms of dealing with the enormous demands on our time as commissioner … dealing with the pressure, dealing with enormous amounts of negativity on any given day, and learning to have a really thick skin so that you don't get distracted and you don't allow others to set your agenda and you stay on course.

"It's just beyond my wildest imaginations to now be the commissioner of the NBA."

April 14, 2014: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer goes crowd surfing in the middle of a game against the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors went on to win a 130-120 shootout, clinching the 6th seed in the playoffs.
Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports

April 13, 2014: Paul George and his Indiana Pacers got a much-needed win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as his squad jousts with the Miami Heat for the top playoff spot in the East.
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports

March 18, 2014: On the day he was introduced as Knicks president, Phil Jackson joins former teammates Walt Frazier and Dick Barnett and Peter DeBusschere, son of Jackson teammate Dave.
William Perlman, The Star-Ledger, via USA TODAY Sports

March 3, 2014: The night belonged to LeBron James, who put on a show for the South Beach crowd with a career-high and Heat-record 61 points in a 124-107 win over the Bobcats.
Robert Mayer, USA TODAY Sports

March 2, 2014: Joakim Noah (13) sends Raymond Felton's (2) shot back where it came from as the Bulls rolled to a 109-90 win over the Knicks in Chicago. Noah wracked up a triple-double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists.
Mike Dinovo, USA TODAY Sports

Feb 26, 2014: Dwight Howard (12) beat Blake Griffin (32) for an alley-oop slam here, but it wasn't enough for the Rockets, who fell 101-93 to the Clippers in a matchup of Western Conference contenders.
Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports

Feb 24, 2014: Everyone knew he would take the shot, but the Knicks still couldn't stop Dirk Nowitzki (41), who hit the game-winning shot here at the buzzer to give the Mavericks a 110-108 win.
Anthony Gruppuso, USA TODAY Sports

Feb. 23, 2014: Brooklyn Nets center Jason Collins (46) attempts a shot during the second half against the Los Angeles Lakers. Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play in any of North America's four major professional sports.
Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports

Feb. 5, 2014: Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins attempts to save the ball from going out of bounds during the third quarter in the Kings' game against the Toronto Raptors.
Ed Szczepanski, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 26, 2014: It was another emotional night in Boston as Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett returned for the first time since being traded to the Nets in July. Each only scored six points, but Brooklyn came away with a 85-79 win.
Mark L. Baer, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 25, 2014: Thunder star Kevin Durant had his game face on for a 103-91 win over the 76ers, finishing with 32 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the season. Durant also scored 30 or more for the 10th consecutive game.
Howard Smith, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 24, 2014: Carmelo Anthony was all smiles after he delighted the home crowd and lit up Madison Square Garden with a franchise and arena-record 62 points in the Knicks' 125-96 win over the Bobcats.
Noah K. Murray, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 12, 2014: C.J. Miles (0) couldn't get to the bucket here against Jason Thompson (34), just as the Cavaliers had a tough time scoring against the Kings in a 124-80 loss. Sacramento's 44-point blowout was the biggest rout of the NBA season so far.
Kelley L. Cox, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 10, 2014: In an NBA first, the Heat and Nets wore jerseys with nicknames on the back. "The Truth" Paul Pierce (34) and the Nets got the better of "King James" LeBron James and the Heat in a 104-95 double-overtime win.
Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 5, 2014: A frustrated Jose Calderon pleads his case with an official during the Mavericks' home loss to the Knicks. New York frustrated Dallas into a season low in points in a 92-80 win.
Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 4, 2014: Kevin Love, right, got the better of Kevin Durant in this collision of All-Stars, but Durant and the Thunder got the better of Love and the Timberwolves on the scoreboard in Oklahoma City's 115-111 win.
Jesse Johnson, USA TODAY Sports

Jan. 1, 2014: Monta Ellis (11) played some tough defense on John Wall (2) here as the Mavericks locked down on the Wizards in the fourth quarter of an 87-78 win in Washington.
Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 23, 2013: In the epitome of a size mismatch, the 7-0 Dirk Nowitzki shoots over the 6-3 Jeremy Lin during a Mavericks win over the Rockets. Nowtizki scored a game-high 31 points to move into 13th place on the all-time scoring list.
Troy Taormina, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 21, 2013: Damian Lillard does it all for the Portland Trail Blazers. The reigning Rookie of the Year hit the floor to corral a loose ball here and later hit the go-ahead three-pointer in a 110-107 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Steve Dykes, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 19, 2013: No Big 3 was no problem for the Spurs. Even with Tim Duncan cheering from the bench and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker also out, San Antonio edged Golden State on the road 104-102.
Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 14, 2013: Washington point guard John Wall (2) wasn't happy with a call here or the Wizards' play in a 113-97 home loss to the Clippers. Wall finished with 24 points and 12 assists, but his Los Angeles counterpart Chris Paul answered with 38 points and 12 dimes.
Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 11, 2013: It was an emotional night in Boston when former coach Doc Rivers returned to the TD Garden as a visitor. Rivers received a standing ovation during a video tribute to his nine years with the Celtics.
Greg M. Cooper, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 8, 2013: It was thumbs up all around in Laker Land when Kobe Bryant made his season debut eight months after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. Bryant's return was not enough, though, as Los Angeles lost to the Toronto Raptors.
Richard Mackson, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 6, 2013: Rockets guard James Harden (13) drives the ball on a fast break during the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Troy Taormina, USA TODAY Sports

Dec. 5, 2013: Iman Shumpert (21) and Andray Blatche (0) shared just a few of the many heated words exchanged between the Knicks and Nets in the battle of New York. Shumpert and the Knicks routed Blatche and the Nets in the first of four meetings this season.
Brad Penner, USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 23, 2013: Tempers flare during a third-quarter altercation between the Blazers and Warriors in Oakland. The fracas led to three ejections and six technical fouls during Portland's come-from-behind win.
Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports